Description

Memed grows up a serf to a vicious overlord on the thistle-clad plains of Turkey’s Taurus region. When his plan to escape is dashed, and the young woman he loves murdered, Memed makes for the mountains to become an outlaw. Before long he has transformed from a young rebel to an infamous bandit, the scourge of corrupt oppressors and hero to the poor. With vividness and simplicity, Kemal’s classic novel evokes the fierce beauty of his country and the struggles of its oppressed people.

Publisher Review

A beautiful novel in the old, glorious tradition of heroic storytelling. * Scotsman * 'A masterpiece'. * New Statesman * 'A tale that assumes epic proportions and gathers speed to rush to a spectacular climax'. * Daily Telegraph * It has that insiders feelings for man, the oppressed, labouring animal ... you might find in Tolstoy, Hardy or Silone. The author never loses his freshness, an ability to pick on details as though see for the first time. * Guardian * Yasham Kemal achieves the Russian quality - an intimacy of detail which makes his etching indelible, more selected, and therefore more obvious than life ... the book is a small, sharp, moving epic of Turkish soil * Sunday Telegraph *